Tyson Fury is now the WBC heavyweight champion of the world after defeating Deontay Wilder on Saturday night.
DOWN GOES WILDER!
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 23, 2020
Tyson Fury is your NEW WBC heavyweight champion! pic.twitter.com/ZkNJQWm4oj
Prior to the ref calling a seventh round TKO, Fury did the extremely weird thing of licking the blood off Wilder's neck. Or, it at least looked like he licked the blood. Check it out for yourself below.
Tyson Fury really licked Wilder’s blood. 😳 pic.twitter.com/YjN2v1z2W4
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 23, 2020
Tyson Fury licked Deontay Wilder's neck 😮
— ESPN (@espn) February 23, 2020
Stream #WilderFury2 on ESPN+ ▶️ https://t.co/mqDaw58TJa pic.twitter.com/DfriGkwcSR
Before the fight went down, Fury gave a warning about his desire to taste blood, though nobody assumed he was being literal. "A fighting man tastes blood," he previously said, per ESPN. "I want to taste it, rub it, punch it and mix it up." Well, it looks like he got what he wanted.
![Tyson Fury Deontay Wilder Standing Over 2020](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 203 115"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Following the blood licking, people hit the internet with memes. And yes, people absolutely used that meme of Shakira's Super Bowl zaghrouta.
Tyson Fury when he sees random blood.
— Andrew Hawkins (@Hawk) February 23, 2020
pic.twitter.com/392pwe3tCQ
Fury to Wilder’s blood: pic.twitter.com/KqN8rhLLVX
— 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙋. 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙤𝙣 🥓 (@MKESZN) February 23, 2020
Fury: “I want to taste his blood”
— Richard (@richardhtx) February 23, 2020
You mean that figuratively, right?
Fury: pic.twitter.com/6gccDZ3SQ5
— Tony Del Bosque (@TonyDbbF) February 23, 2020
Me seeing Fury licking Wilder blood #FuryWilder2 pic.twitter.com/888pyK2exK
— Alex 🪐 (@Garrzzz) February 23, 2020
After it all finished, Fury gave it up to Wilder for putting up a good fight. "A big shout out to Deontay Wilder," he said, per the Guardian. "He came here tonight and he manned up and he really did show the heart of a champion. I hit him with a clean right that dropped him and he got back up. He is a warrior. He will be back. He will be champion again."
This photo 🤯
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 23, 2020
Sheesh. #FuryWilder2 pic.twitter.com/tIexQgdiNf
Fury destroyed Wilder and then had the whole arena singing American Pie 💀 pic.twitter.com/4vqZg1bcAQ
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 23, 2020
Wilder was gracious with his loss and said that "the best man won tonight." He continued, "I had a lot of things going on heading into this fight. It is what it is, but I make no excuses tonight. I just wish my corner would have let me go out on my shield. I’m a warrior. He had a great performance and we will be back stronger."